National Parks Adventure (2016) Reviews

• Wasted Opportunity

  tgn3442016-10-12

  I stumped-up full price to see this 50 minute film expecting to see a documentary on the National Parks. Some of the shots were jaw-dropping: Grand Prismatic Lake and the Grand Canyon in particular. However, these kinds of vistas were few and far between. I was treated to the sight (in 3D & IMAX) of three people sitting inside of their car having a singalong, a girl balancing on a rope and a guy climbing 30 or 40 feet up a frozen waterfall. Instead of concentrating on this group's journey, and the fun time they had mountain biking, I would have liked to have seen more of the Parks of Utah. No mention of the Blue Ridge or Natchez Parkways either. The whole film struck me as a wasted opportunity to showcase the beauty and diversity of the National Parks. 4 stars for the truly impressive shots of the parks (which are not long enough anyway).

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• Truly Disappointing

  jmillerdp2016-07-03

  Considering you gotta fork over a full-price ticket to see a short- subject film, I was certainly disappointed. The film inexplicably features three people who use the National Parks as their personal playground. Bizarrely, the film spends 10 minutes or so watching them cooking, riding in their car, tightrope walking, whatever. A true waste of time. Maybe these three people in the movie were related to the director? I have no idea. Add to it the bizarre disservice done to who should have showed up in the movie and been the centerpiece: Native Americans. Having three white people as the centerpiece was a truly strange way to "celebrate" our National Parks. If you have ever heard the stories Native Americans have about the lands of our country, you would be transfixed! Truly fascinating. If we had heard about how they worship the land and believe in its power, it would have made a tremendous difference. Instead, all we get is a brief reference to it by off-screen narrator Robert Redford. A true missed opportunity, and a true disappointment. **** (4 Out of 10 Stars)

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• Not bad, but comes a bit short on the subject

  Horst_In_Translation2018-05-02

  "National Parks Adventure" is an American documentary short film from 2016 that runs for slightly over 40 minutes and is the most recent filmmaking effort by three very experienced documentary filmmakers, namely Oscar nominee Greg MacGillivray and writers Stephen Judson and Tim Cahill. So the outcome is sligthly underwhelming, the documentary is not really about the nature, but feels more like a travel diary most of the time that should people inspire to go see the national parks, but does not really tell people about what makes them so special in terms of animal variety for example or really spectacular nature sceneries. Then again, the "adventure" gives this somehow away too, so that you cannot say that they were trying to sell this film as something else and which is eventually also why I give the outcome here a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out. It wasn't really a close call either. I just feel that the opportunity here was certainly present to turn this into something more special and more memorable because the subject has so much to to offer. Then again, it is a really daring challenge they have here because including several national parks in a movie that stays considerably below the one-hour mark is almost an impossible challenge. Taking this into account, they did fine overall for sure. Go see it if you can. I was surprised how this film is really not too easy to get one's hands on. If you do, then don't miss out. Oh yeah, narrator is Oscar winner Robert Redford and he's doing a decent job too, so if you like him, there's another reason why you wanna watch this one.

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• Pretty buy exceptionally cringey

  frasercurrie2019-02-06

  Lots of beautiful hi-res footage of some amazing places. Makes me want to travel to the US. However, almost ruined by the cliché soundtrack and scripted scenes of the climbers. Conrad is an awesome guy who's done some exceptional stuff but this feels like a bit of a sell out.

• Awful "foreground" music

  ajtroxell2018-05-19

  Love Robt Redford's narration, spectacular photography, don't care about the 3 (who cares?) peoples' climbing adventures. Totally spoiled by the annoying dopey overly LOUD music. Ditch the singers, keep Redford, quiet the music and turn up the nature sounds and it would be a pleasure to watch.